The truth is… established songwriters and publishers that are pitching songs to recording artists everyday only pitch fully produced demos.  Industry executives are used to hearing a song “realized”. They want it to sound like a record because in many cases, it’s a sure fire way to know if it’s going to work for the project.

Additionally, if you want to send your songs to music production libraries or music supervisors for placement in movies or television shows, it’s imperative that they are “broadcast quality”.   They want the songs to sonically sound amazing so that they blend well in the scenes they are placing them in.

Aside from the above mentioned reasons we have many clients that just love to write songs and want quality recordings of them.  Regardless of your reasons for getting a professional recording of your song, we will work very hard at helping you achieve the sound you want.

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Who will I be working with?
Jimi Heath- Owner
Jimi has worked in the music industry over 12 years.  She has worked with David Foster, Carol Bayer Sager, was Dir of Marketing for TAXI, and has worked for and still works with The Nashville Songwriter Association.  She is also an accomplished songwriter and publisher.  Jimi works tirelessly to ensure that every songwriter recording with NDS is treated like a rock star! Jimi makes herself available via email and phone to talk to songwriters who have questions about anything from recording to the music industry.

Rod Lewis-Owner/Musician
Rod is a hit songwriter and has been a professional musician for over 20 years. He has worked with such artists as Gary Allan, Chris Cummings, Jeffrey Steele, TG Shepard, etc.  Rod handles all of the preproduction of your songs and ensures that we achieve the perfect production and sound for your song.

Bobby Holland – Chief Engineer
Bobby is our in house engineer.  It is his job to ensure that the sounds we are getting from the band are industry standard during tracking.  He also mixes your song.  He takes particular care in every song to ensure that you’re mix is amazing and up to the very high bar that music execs are used to hearing.

Benjamin Olson – Studio Manager
Benjamin is our rock star studio manager.  Ben is your point of contact when it comes to booking and billing.  He is committed to making your experience with NDS as smooth as possible.  Why is his job so important?  He handles all the detail work so you can concentrate on what you are best at..being a creative and amazing songwriter!

Tim Grogan – Producer/Musician
Tim has been a professional musician and producer for over 20 years. He was in the Desert Rose Band, Boy Howdy (that’s Jeffrey Steele’s band) and has worked with many artists from Aaron Tippin to Dizzy Gillespie.  Tim recently produced Aaron Tippin’s new album with James Stroud.  Tim’s job is to ensure that the over all production (from music to vocals) is flawless and amazing.

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Who are the musicians and vocalists?
Rod Lewis (Gary Allen, Chris Cummings, etc) and Tim Grogan (Jeffrey Steele, Desert Rose Band, etc)  play on all of our demo sessions.  They make up the rhythm section of the band (bass and drums).  We hire in the rest of the band based upon the needs of your song.  Both Rod and Tim not only play on sessions here at NDS, they also play on many sessions around town for publishers and record labels.  We know exactly who to call when putting together a great band.  We ONLY use professional players who are members of the local Musicians Union.

We also use professional, union singers.  We have a very small list of singers on our website for you to check out.  If you are hearing a specific type of voice, just let us know and we will email you some links to different singers that fit your requests from you to choose from.  If you have a specific demo singer in mind, we can book them as well.

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Do you use Protools?
Yes.  We use the latest version of Protools HD.  We also have the ability to track in RADAR and Tape.  You can view a full listing of our gear here: GEAR LIST.

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How quickly can I have my finished demo back to me?
Our turn around time is 5 business days from the date of the session.  We have a session every Thursday and usually a second session earlier in the week.  So if we record your song on a Thursday you will have the mix of the song sent for your approval no later than the following Thursday.

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So how does the process work?
First of all, we work very hard so that you can concentrate your efforts on the creative side.  Here is how it works:

CONTACT US

1.      You contact us by ordering online, giving us a call at 615-386-8360 or sending us an email. 

SEND US YOUR TUNE

2.      We will call you as soon as we hear from you and request that you send us by email or mail a worktape of your song and a copy of the lyric.  This can be just you and a guitar or piano singing the melody or just you singing acapella. You DON’T have to be a good singer, we just need to hear the song so that we can chart it for the musicians.

3.      If you need help with the chords, we can accommodate that by doing a phone or in person consultation.  This would really only be necessary if you do not play an instrument or you would like us to come up with some more interesting chord progressions for your song.

4.      Once we get the worktape we will choose a session date to record your song (we do one to two sessions every week) send you a contract for you to read and electronically sign. Once we get your contract back we will take your deposit (50% of total bill).  We take cash, check and all major credit cards.  With the exception of cash, we can take payment over the phone.

PRE-PRODUCTION

5.      Once we get your worktape and lyric we will chart it in the Nashville Number System and the session leader (the guy charting your song) will give you a call and go over production ideas.  Once we have communicated our ideas and you have communicated your ideas we’ll see what you think would be best and notate all of that on the chart. This step is very important so please make sure to communicate ALL of your ideas to the session leader.

6.      You will choose what vocalist you want to sing your song.  If you need help with this we will suggest the vocalist(s) that we think would sound best.

RECORDING

7.      We will track the main instruments of your song on a 10am-1pm tracking session.  Then we break for lunch for one hour and from 2-4 we track overdub instruments (fiddle, pads, strings, etc). Once that is done its off to record vocals.  Sometimes, singers aren’t available to sing the day of tracking, so we will schedule the vocals at the singers earliest convenience. 

MIXING

8.      Then it goes to mixing.  Once your song is mixed we will send you the mixed track for you to review.  If you have any changes you would like to make to the mix, we remix it (at no additional cost to you). 

DELIVERY

9.      Once you are satisfied with your song, we collect the other half of your payment and send you a high quality file of your song via CD Copy in the mail or our secure, FTP server.

Can I be present when the demo is being made?
ABSOLUTELY!!!

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What if I have more questions?
 If you have more questions just give us a call at 615-386-8360 or send us an email via our contact page.  We'd love to hear from you!